Kramer joins anti-fracking lobby
INLSA
Karoo troubadour David Kramer
Donald Paul
When music icon David Kramer took his new show,Kramer se Karoo, to the Klein Karoo Kunstefees at the weekend, he joined voices with the Treasure the Karoo Action Group, urging the audience to join the campaign to stop fracking in the Karoo.
The Karoo troubadour introduced Onnerwater – a song about the ancient Karoo – by telling people of the dangers of fracking.
Some band members also made their stance clear by wearing T-shirts that read: “Stop fracking our Karoo!”
Kramer has read up on the fracking issue and is not convinced by the oil companies’ arguments that they will take every precaution not to contaminate the aquifer.
“They say they will replace what is damaged,” he said. “We’ve heard all that before.
“Are we going to take that chance? Are we going to pump in millions of toxic chemicals in these underground areas, crank the rocks, leave it there and then think it doesn’t really do any damage because we can’t see it? And what then, when in 100 years time they (toxins) start to ooze out?
“If we contaminate the water underground, we can’t flush it out because don’t have the water in the first place to do so. Life is on this planet because of water. I don’t understand how – in an arid place like the Karoo – they want to use the much-needed water to get gas.”
With fracking, a drill is sunk through the water table and down into the shale rock and then horizontally into the shale. Millions of litres of water mixed with toxic chemicals are forced down the hole and the pressure fractures the shale, releasing the trapped gas.
More than 30 to 40 percent of the chemical-laden water mix remains below the surface. The rest is pumped out and has to be disposed of as hazardous waste.
"Toxic chemicals" is inaccurate, emotive & untruthful.
ReplyDelete.Shell is not welcome in the Karoo unless they are partners in solar projects and spekboom forestry as biomass and other means to develope renewable energy
ReplyDeletehttp://haaspoortacademy.blogspot.com .
Renewable energy is in my view to be addressed very scientifically and academically responsible manner and could be said to be synonym to permaculture ,hemp cultivation wind energy, wave energy,conservation agriculture and biological agriculture agrivillages and rural development in safe and realistic manner involving the current owners and occupants of the land - we would not neccessarily want it anyway else either .
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